In the third quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday loss to the New England Patriots, wide receiver Antonio Brown left the game with what was later termed a left quad injury by head coach Mike Tomlin. While Brown was ultimately able to return to the game in the fourth quarter after first going to the team’s locker room to receive some medical attention for his injury, he played sporadically from that point forward.
After the game was over, Brown, who caught 7 passes for 106 yards on 11 targets in Sunday’s loss, said he expects “no long term ill effects” from whatever happened to his quad during the game and that the forthcoming bye week will be “an opportunity to heal up,” per Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network.
Brown appeared to injured himself when he was tackled by Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler following 1st and 10 reception with 6:10 left in the third quarter. After staying in the game for the next play, Brown then hobbled over to the Steelers sideline and then laid down on the ground while the medical staff attended to his injury.
After first trying to work through his quad injury on the sideline, Brown went down the stairs to the team’s locker room and then quickly returned and re-entered the game.
The Steelers have needed their bye for several weeks and it’s too bad that it didn’t come this week as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, defensive end Cameron Heyward, tackle Marcus Gilbert, running back DeAngelo Williams and wide receiver Markus Wheaton all sat out the game Sunday against the Patriots with injuries.
When they return from their bye, the Steelers will play the Baltimore Ravens on the road in Week 9 before returning home in Week 10 to host the Dallas Cowboys.
While Brown seems confident that he will be fine for the Steelers game against the Ravens, it’s still unclear as whether Roethlisberger will be healthy enough to play.
Roethlisberger, who had surgery this past Monday to repair the meniscus in his left knee that he damaged a week ago, was on the sideline Sunday offering support and help to his teammates. It was also reported prior to the start of Sunday’s game that Roethlisberger could jog some during player introductions.
